Shit flows easy with this one...

Trump calls Washington Post 'expensive lobbyist' for Amazon

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump attacked the Washington Post and Amazon in a series of tweets on Monday, writing that the newspaper is an “expensive lobbyist” for the online retailer and that Amazon takes advantage of the U.S. Postal Service.

The president has often criticized the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder and owner Jeff Bezos. The two companies, however, are not connected.

His criticism began with a tweet stating that he is not frustrated with the pace of denuclearization talks with North Korea, claiming that he is “very happy” with the lack of missile and nuclear tests from the regime of Kim Jong Un.

“A Rocket has not been launched by North Korea in 9 months. Likewise, no Nuclear Tests. Japan is happy, all of Asia is happy,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “But the Fake News is saying, without ever asking me (always anonymous sources), that I am angry because it is not going fast enough. Wrong, very happy!”

The president’s social media post appeared to come in response to a Washington Post story which cites unnamed sources within the White House to report that that the president has grown privately frustrated with the up-and-downs and inconsistencies of denuclearization talks with North Korea.

Despite the president’s assertion he had not been contacted for the story, one of the three reporters whose byline appears on the story wrote on Twitter that “we contacted the White House multiple times before the story ran.”

Those talks, kick-started last month by Trump’s meeting in Singapore with Kim, have sputtered at times in the weeks since. Negotiations hit an apparent low point earlier this month in the wake of a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang, after which the Kim regime said the talks had been “regrettable” and accused the U.S. of making “gangster-like” demands.

Negotiations over the return of remains of U.S. soldiers killed in North Korea during the Korean War have also made little progress, even though the president announced last month that the Kim regime had already sent back 200 such remains. North Korea also has yet to destroy a missile-engine testing facility that Trump said Kim pledged to dismantle, the Post reported.

Trump has complained often about reporting on his administration that relies on anonymous sources, regularly insisting that such sources are simply made up and chalking stories up to “fake news.”

Minutes after posting his complaint about the Post’s reporting, Trump shifted his attention to Amazon, suggesting that it has ramped up negative coverage of him in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling requiring online retailers to collect sales tax on purchases in states where they do not have a physical presence. Whether the ruling will ultimately hurt Amazon remains an open question, with some legal experts telling CNBC last month that the online giant could actually benefit.

Trump also renewed his complaint that Amazon takes advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, which handles some deliveries for Bezos’s company. The president said Bezos uses the Post as an “expensive lobbyist” for his retail operation.

“The Amazon Washington Post has gone crazy against me ever since they lost the Internet Tax Case in the U.S. Supreme Court two months ago. Next up is the U.S. Post Office which they use, at a fraction of real cost, as their “delivery boy” for a BIG percentage of their packages,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “In my opinion the Washington Post is nothing more than an expensive (the paper loses a fortune) lobbyist for Amazon. Is it used as protection against antitrust claims which many feel should be brought?"

The Washington Post did not immediately respond for comment.